Lake Forest College Sports Information
February 8, 2003
Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID

Foresters Move to 17-2 with Pair of MWC Home Victories
Team never trails in wins over Lawrence and Carroll
  

Kristy Freeman scored 26 points over the weekend.
LAKE FOREST, IL - The Forester women's basketball team won a pair of Midwest Conference home games over the weekend (February 7-8), raising its overall record to 17-2 and its MWC mark to 10-2. Lake Forest's 67-54 win on Friday over Lawrence University dropped the Vikings' overall record to 10-9 and its league mark to 7-5. Carroll College fell to 6-13 overall and 4-8 in the conference with Saturday's 74-52 decision.

Two Forester forwards, senior Katie McCants (Menasha, WI/Menasha) and sophomore Shannon Clerkin (Barneveld, WI/Barneveld), each recorded double-doubles on Friday. Clerkin scored a game-high 22 points and added 10 rebounds. McCants had 10 points and pulled down a game-high 11 boards. Sophomore Kristy Freeman (Palatine, IL/Palatine) shot 3-for-4 from three-point range and scored 12.

Lake Forest shot 43.4% (23-of-53) from the field while Lawrence connected on just 36.4% (20-of-55) of its field goal attempts. The Foresters out-rebounded the Vikings 44-27.

After jumping out to a 10-2 lead, Lake Forest allowed the visitors to come back and tie the score six times in the first half, which ended with the Foresters ahead by two (31-29). The home team opened the second half with a 16-2 run to extend the margin to 16 points (49-31). Lawrence trimmed the lead to nine points (54-45) with six-and-a-half minutes left but would get no closer.

McCants and Freeman shared game-high scoring honors with 14 points each. Clerkin scored just seven points but led all players with 11 rebounds. Sophomore guard/forward Alissa Mildebrath (Carol Stream, IL/West Chicago) and junior guard Sherry Wagner (Chicago, IL/Mother McAuley) added 11 and 9 points, respectively.

The Foresters shot 42.1% (24-of-57) and Carroll was 32.7% (18-of-55) from the field. Lake Forest also held a significant 47-32 edge in rebounds and made twice as many free throws (20-10).

Two minutes passed before the Foresters scored the game's first points and led the rest of the way. The home team led by as many as 11 points twice in the first half, once with just less than five minutes remaining (26-15) and again at the completion of the period (32-21). Carroll cut the difference to eight points (39-31 and 41-33) but would get no closer. Lake Forest's largest lead was 24 points (74-50).

The victories keep the Foresters in third place in the conference, trailing Ripon College by a half-game and St. Norbert College by one-and-a-half. Lake Forest will host Illinois College (9-10, 7-6 MWC) at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday (February 12) and will travel to Grinnell College (9-9, 4-9) for a 1:00 p.m. game on Saturday (February 15).

Lake Forest - Lawrence Box Score
Lake Forest - Carroll Box Score